UK iPad launch pushed back to May

Apple has confirmed that the UK launch of the iPad has been delayed until May.

In a statement issued by the company, it cites strong US demand for the delay.

"Faced with this surprisingly strong US demand, we have made the difficult decision to postpone the international launch of iPad by one month, until the end of May," the company says.

In a move that is likely to disappoint many Brits hoping to get their hands on the new Internet tablet from Apple by the end of the month, international pre-orders and pricing will now not be taken or announced until 10 May.

"We know that many international customers waiting to buy an iPad will be disappointed by this news, but we hope they will be pleased to learn the reason - the iPad is a runaway success in the US thus far," said Apple.

The news comes just days after Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO, confirmed to journalists at the launch of the iPhone 4.0 OS event that a late-April launch was still on the cards.

Apple say that they've now delivered over 500,000 iPads to stores around the US and taken plenty of pre-orders for the 3G version, which in the US seems to still be on track.